Saint-Sulpice is the biggest and grandest church I’ve ever stepped into. After 3 days of exhausting, albeit satisfying museum trips it was nice to rest our eyes for a bit. I found a nice, quiet spot, sat down and simply drank in the grandeur of the place. Further down behind the altar a private service was in procession, and the choir’s soothing tunes reverberated throughout the towering, cavernous halls. The ambience and aura of the place was unbelievable.

With the exception of some strategically placed tungsten lamps, the church was otherwise illuminated only by the soft, natural light filtering through the stained glass windows and warm candlelight, preserving an age-old look that seemed to have changed little since the medieval times. I was enthralled by the quality and beauty of the light.

The church was largely undisturbed ( thankfully ) by thronging crowds of tourists with blinding flashlights (prohibited, by the way), unlike Notre Dame Cathedral which we visited a few days later. This was quite unexpected because Saint-Sulpice was featured in Ron Howard’s Da Vinci Code, where Silas arrives to search for the keystone. ( the church you seen in the film however, was a CG enhanced set because they couldn’t get permission to film inside. )

Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in Paris. ( turn off that flashlight first ! )